Usman Khawaja re-signs with the Brisbane Heat for his first full Big Bash season

Usman Khawaja has re-signed with the Brisbane Heat for a fifth season in teal, and for the first time will be available to the club for a full Big Bash campaign

The 39-year-old left-hander was out of contract after a four-year deal expired at the end of last season, and did not put his name to a new one during the nine-day player movement window that followed BBL|15. He re-signed once the league-wide contracting embargo was lifted last month.

Khawaja retired from international cricket after the Sydney Ashes Test in January, then confirmed his first-class career was over when Queensland’s Sheffield Shield season ended in March. For the first time since he began playing the tournament, nothing else is competing for his summer.

"It’s going to be a bit strange, but very exciting as well, to be at the Gabba for the first game of our season on 15 December," Khawaja said of the Heat’s opening fixture.

A full summer for the first time

Across four seasons since he moved to Brisbane from the Sydney Thunder in 2022, Khawaja’s availability has been set by Australian selection rather than by the club. He managed eight matches in that first season, when a late winning run carried the Heat to a final.

"In the past it has been a few games here or there, depending on the Australian team’s commitments, which has been enjoyable," he said. "But the prospect of a full competition is even better."

He played in the Pakistan Super League in April and will link up with the Heat’s pre-Big Bash training schedule.

Captaincy still to be settled

Khawaja has led the Heat when available between national commitments, including their last three games of BBL|15. Under new head coach James Hopes, the club is yet to name a captain for the coming season.

"Having someone with Uzzie’s class, composure and experience in our group is only going to make us better," Hopes said. "His individual skills and reading of the game mean his contributions are always valuable."

"We’re looking forward to enjoying the competition with him and know that he will have plenty to offer the club on and off the field," the coach added.

A candidate for the designated batter role

Hopes’ predecessor, former South Africa captain Johan Botha, named Khawaja as a prime candidate to fill the Heat’s designated batter slot under a rule being introduced this summer.

Clubs may now nominate one designated batter in their XI before the toss. That player is allowed to bat but may not field or bowl, and the option applies across both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Taking it up is not compulsory. Part of the thinking behind the rule is that it lets clubs manage the workload of older players, and so extends careers that would otherwise end.

What the Heat are getting

Khawaja sits inside the top 20 run-scorers in Big Bash history, with 2240 runs at a strike rate of 132.54 from 73 matches, including 15 scores of fifty or more and two centuries.

He was central to the Thunder’s maiden title in BBL|05, making 104 not out from 59 balls in the semi-final against the Adelaide Strikers and 70 from 40 in the final against the Melbourne Stars. A second championship followed with the Heat in 2023-24.

Last summer he took the player-of-the-match award against the Sydney Thunder at the Gabba with 78 from 48 balls, an innings that kept Brisbane’s finals hopes alive. In all T20 cricket he has played 124 games, with three centuries and 18 half-centuries.

A list still four players short

The signing follows a new deal for fast bowler Michael Neser, who has committed to Brisbane until the end of BBL|17. The club has also recruited New Zealand batter Tim Robinson and England seamer Tom Curran.

Marnus Labuschagne remains uncontracted, with Australia’s five-Test tour of India from mid-January next year likely to cut into any Big Bash availability he has.

Brisbane retained the maximum of 10 players from last season before the embargo took effect and have now filled 14 of the 18 places allowed on their primary list.

Brisbane open their BBL|16 campaign at the Gabba on 15 December, with Khawaja available for the whole of it.

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